States jostle for drone benefits

The drones of the future could bring a windfall for the U.S. economy, boosters hope — so states are elbowing to get a taste of the action.

Twenty-four states have submitted proposals to the Federal Aviation Administration to be test sites for unmanned aircraft, competing to be among six selected by the end of the year. But the test-site selection is just the beginning, officials said Tuesday at the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International conference in Washington.

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The unmanned systems commercial market is set to explode, they say, and states such as Oklahoma, North Dakota, New Mexico, Utah, Ohio and Idaho are jostling to position themselves to reap the economic benefits.

“We were asked: Why does the lieutenant governor travel out here?” North Dakota’s Lt. Gov. Drew Wrigley said. “I don’t look for opportunities to leave the state, but we’re here to try to impress upon people that, at the highest levels of our executive branch in our government in North Dakota, we are partnering with the stakeholders in this important initiative … Our state legislature produced $5 million just a couple months back for just the initial couple of years, to help secure the site, opening up our new test site. And if [we aren’t picked], we’re going to be very active in this arena nevertheless.”

At decked-out booths across the AUVSI convention floor, state flags and helpful ambassadors beckoned onlookers to talk about their states’ geographic advantages, practical applications of drone technology and their commitments to being on the forefront of the new market.

Ohio served Buckeye State-shaped cookies. At the Utah booth, representatives from Gov. Gary Herbert’s office, Utah Valley University and the Economic Development Corporation of Utah explained how their approach featuring politics, economics and academics set them up for success in the commercial drone market.

“The FAA have to safely integrate unmanned aerial systems into the national airspace system, and that’s one of the most important initiatives that we’re going to face in the next two to three decades,” said Wayne Dornan, dean of Utah Valley University. “It will completely revolutionize our airspace. So we have established this alliance, the Mountain West Unmanned Systems Alliance, to be on the cutting edge of this research.”

There’s no better place to develop unmanned technology than Utah, Dornan added, because of its rural geography as well as the universities on board with the proposal that are already doing state-of-the-art research. “We’re confident that Utah will be on the forefront of this UAS research,” he said.

Marshall Wright, director of business development for the governor’s office of economic development, chimed in: “It’s more than just an opportunity; it’s clearly an economic issue. Not only for our states, but also for the United States too … Unmanned systems is some of the leading-edge technologies in the world right now. We have been the leaders, but we’re not the leaders at this point of transferring it into the commercial space, and that is the key thing that we see is the opportunity that we have.”